The number of construction permits issued by the government rose more than 10 percent in the first seven months of the year from the same period last year as the total number of permits grew 11.3 percent to 15,623, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data showed on Friday.
Total gross floor area covered by construction permits grew 15.9 percent year-on-year to 18.87 million square meters, the data showed.
Construction permits are seen as an important barometer of property developers’ investment appetite and the health of the wider property market.
Despite double-digit growth, “it remains to be seen whether the property market has bounced back,” said Arisa Liu, a research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.
Growth in both indicators reflected a technical rebound at a time when the local property market remains in a downtrend, she said.
The market is seeing a supply glut, and while the value of the newly launched housing projects is expected to top NT$1 trillion (US$32.51 billion) this year, less than 40 percent of the new property is expected to be sold, Liu said.
The property market remains awash in empty homes, she added.
Of the permitted gross floor area, 10.41 million square meters, or 55.1 percent, were for residential housing projects, up 31.8 percent from last year, the data showed.
Floor area for industrial and warehouse use accounted for 23.5 percent of the total, while office space made up 5.5 percent and other commercial uses represented 2.7 percent in the first seven months.
Permits covered 12.23 million square meters of gross floor area in the six special municipalities or 64.8 percent of the national total.
Taichung permits accounted for the biggest gross floor area at 14.6 percent, ahead of Taoyuan (11.9), Taipei (11.7), Kaohsiung (10.4), Tainan (9.8) and Taipei (6.4). |
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